Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

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Arcatech
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Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Arcatech »

Just saw a video of this on the shmup Facebook group and thought I would share it here. Impressive looking indie shmup that was shown off at Tokyo Game Show. The graphics remind me of Crimson Clover a bit. here is a video if anybody is interested. Anybody know how the scoring system works? Hoping for a PS4 port or something but who knows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tst1xAnoo4s

Here is the official website.

http://www.geocities.jp/dij4121/alpha/npage/rg.html
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Necronom
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Necronom »

Looks interesting...thanks for sharing :)
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by gameoverDude »

Thanks. I so want this...
The moment I see it on Steam, GOG, wherever... they can have my money.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by mamboFoxtrot »

That does look like fun. I DL'd the demo and will check it out later.
AFXisatwin wrote:The graphics remind me of Crimson Clover a bit.
I was thinking more Blue Wish Resurrection lol it's pretty ghetto looking
Well, maybe not as bad as BWR, but still...
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Eisenhans »

mamboFoxtrot wrote: lol it's pretty ghetto looking
Even at the same level of detail, models etc. it would have helped tremendously if they had adjusted the lighting on the foreground objects to match the photographic background, at least to a degree. Now it looks like default lit objects floating in front of an image wallpaper.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Shepardus »

What it really needs is more stars.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by wizkid »

The graphics remind me of Crimson Clover a bit
not just the graphics, pacing and patterns look similiar too.
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Arcatech
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Arcatech »

not just the graphics, pacing and patterns look similiar too.
Looking at it again, ya I agree. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so they say.

Liking the shot type that aims opposite of where the player directs the ship. Reminded me of one of the selections in Gleylancer.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Despatche »

Updated trial posted last week, adds stage 2 I guess. Stage 1 is kinda... short, but stage 2 is pretty good.

This is the next Crimzon Clover. It doesn't really feel like CC's gameplay though, it's pretty different. Crying + Deathsmiles. Shoot stuff for medals to build regular energy, as well as points. Power up at 1000 energy, build LIMIT energy and L I M I T B R E A K for fun and prizes. Arcade-style difficulty and extend dipswitches?! Runs like crap on my PC. Really good music!

Casual mode gets rid of the second (overall item?) counter under the energy counter, the multiplier, and I guess rank too. Expert is Original but you build limit energy way quicker. Of course, basic patterns are easier in Casual and harder in Expert. Expert + Hardest is going to be insane if powerup/limit spam doesn't ruin it.

Be aware that limit replaces powerup. Get as much mileage and build as much limit energy out of powerup as you need. Unfortunately, the limit bar is a little hard to see during powerup.

There's something in the manual about using fighter shot on small enemies and gunner shot on large enemies raising the grade of the medals they drop, in addition to powerup and limit raising grades. Higher grade medals give more regular/limit energy, and more points.
Last edited by Despatche on Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by CBM »

The newly posted videos (from last weekend) look quite good, actually (if one can look past a few graphics goofs like the ripped google maps stuff).
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by mamboFoxtrot »

Jesus Christ that bomb when used manually :shock:
So this is like Crimson Deathsmiles or something now, eh? I'm in. Building up the big-boy firepower mode for big-boy points is some satisfying shit.

It took me a while to figure out where the trial was actually downloadable from, since while the kanji for the tab says "Trial Version", I can't read moon-runes so I was going by the URL it links to, which is "music" for some reason. Anyway, I'll just link the page for those interested-yet-lazy:
https://rollinggunner.wixsite.com/rollinggunner/music

e: In addition to what Despatche said, it seems like being in the "Double-Break" mode increases the game's difficulty, though it goes back down the moment it wears off.
About the fighter vs gunner shot, do you know if it's killing the enemy with the shot, or just damaging them? Or, if you're supposed to be hitting the enemy with only one shot type?
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Despatche »

Game's out, did anyone actually manage to buy it?

Apparently the January 2018 issue of Weekly Famitsu will have an article on it.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Necronom »

Despatche wrote:Game's out, did anyone actually manage to buy it?

Apparently the January 2018 issue of Weekly Famitsu will have an article on it.
Guess it was sold on Comiket only...would love to have a look once it hits Steam *fingerscrossed*
Keeping an eye on this one :D
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by CBM »

I wonder why many (at least it feels that way) japanese developers make it so problematic to buy their stuff. I mean.. itch.io, from "making the account" to "sales are open" is a matter of 3 minutes. Steam is $100 and a few nasty bits of tax paperwork, but then it's done, largest income potential on the planet for PC stuff. ZUN probably had to build a money bin of Uncle Scrooge proportions to store all his currency, after he dropped his game on Steam.

Why choose some obscure shop site instead?
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by BulletMagnet »

I'm no expert, but offhand I'd guess that the main issues are 1) How often their stuff ends up pirated, especially in the West (on the subject of Touhou, how many folks still genuinely believe to this day that the games are freeware?), and 2) Especially in Steam's case, the storefront is so littered with garbage that the odds are very much against a quality no-name game cobbling together enough notice to be worth it. ZUN is presumably one of the few names big enough to be able to shrug off both, and even at that it was pulling teeth for years to make his games (two of them, anyway) more accessible outside of the core Japanese fanbase.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Bananamatic »

BulletMagnet wrote:1) How often their stuff ends up pirated, especially in the West (on the subject of Touhou, how many folks still genuinely believe to this day that the games are freeware?)
"people pirate our stuff because we don't let them reasonably buy it in the first place so we won't bother ever letting them buy it"
I'd be amazed if people with this kind of ass backwards logic were capable of making a game so I doubt that's the case

seriously though, the game costs 500 yen at comiket (all stages but graphics/music is still work in progress and will be updated next year if the translation is correct?) and they can't be bothered to even put it on dlsite or something?
do you expect me to import it and pay 4 times that for shipping and possibly import charges? lmao
you deserve to get stuff pirated then
but I think they just really don't give a shit
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by BulletMagnet »

Bananamatic wrote:"people pirate our stuff because we don't let them reasonably buy it in the first place so we won't bother ever letting them buy it"
Again, whatever knowledge I have of this subject is second- and third-hand, and definitely don't intend to turn this into yet another perpetual back-and-forth piracy "discussion" thread, but someone correct me if I'm wrong when I recall that the guy who made Stella Vanity, and did put it on DLSite (though didn't you yourself assert that it was "so shitty to release stuff on that you might as well pirate it" and that "it's the closest thing you'll get to feeling like you're screwing the dev over without actually stealing"?), was still pirated so extensively that he was forced out of game development.

I don't doubt that in some cases , i.e. ZUN, there's an audience waiting in the wings as soon as some semblance of accessibility is implemented, but I also can't imagine that the hesitance of Japanese doujin developers in particular to reach beyond the one proven demographic they have can be completely chalked up to apathy and/or incompetence.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Bananamatic »

yeah, dlsite is crap but it's still slightly better than nothing
I just want to buy the damn thing and support the devs but they clearly don't want me to
even if it was some weird shit like paypal me the amount of money and I send you a link, literally anything low effort that doesn't make me require to pirate it
as far as I know selling stuff online isn't really that much effort to turn customers into pirates because you give them no other option
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Elixir »

CBM wrote:Why choose some obscure shop site instead?
What obscure shop site would that be?
I haven't actively browsed/used this forum in many years and it's no longer an accurate representation of me.

I have retired from genre-specific content creation after 13 years, but I'll always love this little genre in my own personal way.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by CBM »

Elixir wrote:What obscure shop site would that be?
I apologize for my wording, I was referring to the Comiket comment earlier. "Trade fair" would be more fitting I guess?
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Despatche »

CBM wrote:I wonder why many (at least it feels that way) japanese developers make it so problematic to buy their stuff. I mean.. itch.io, from "making the account" to "sales are open" is a matter of 3 minutes. Steam is $100 and a few nasty bits of tax paperwork, but then it's done, largest income potential on the planet for PC stuff. ZUN probably had to build a money bin of Uncle Scrooge proportions to store all his currency, after he dropped his game on Steam.

Why choose some obscure shop site instead?
It's not even remotely problematic to their target audience: people in Japan, most of which are going to Comiket, some of which are not. There is nothing obscure about Comiket, an event that hundreds of thousands of people show up to twice a year.

The Touhou games are on Steam only to appeal to the Japanese Steam users; all other sales are a nice bonus. While Touhou Tenkuushou sold okay for what it is, it's not going to do Jamestown numbers anytime soon.

We are not the target audience. We are rarely the target audience, only becoming so when another company like Degica or Nyu Media takes matters into their own hands.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Bananamatic »

Despatche wrote:There is nothing obscure about Comiket, an event that hundreds of thousands of people show up to twice a year.
you still have to travel across japan even if you're japanese
just to buy one shmup
it's 2018, if something can be sold digital, you should probably sell it digital
then again this is japan where you get kicked out of a livestream if you don't have a premium account
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Shepardus »

If your target audience is people who are already willing to travel to Tokyo and brave the massive crowds, then sure, distributing at Comiket is probably fine. If you hope to reach anyone besides that, who can't or doesn't want to go to Comiket for whatever reason, be it scheduling conflicts, distance, cost, dislike of crowds, or something else, better look into some other forms of distribution. I imagine many doujin devs are mainly looking to share games amongst themselves like a sort of informal club rather than trying to maximize their revenue or reach, though. If sales mattered to them they wouldn't be making shmups.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Not quite the same, but: I live in San Diego, right next to Comic Con which is IIRC a much, much bigger event which sees fans and creators flying over from across the world to attend. I'm literally a 30-45 minute drive away, and it's still a nightmare getting in. Getting tickets is a nightmare. Finding parking is a nightmare. Sitting in traffic for 3 hours is a nightmare. Waiting in lines for hours is a nightmare. Walking around for three to five hours straight amidst claustrophobia inducing crowds is a nightmare.

I still made a point to attend every year since nearly...2009 or so I believe. However I've stopped over the past few years because I take summer classes now and cannot spare the time.

A friend of mine was also visiting Japan and attended this Comitek, and even though he was already scheduled to be in the area, it was apparently Hell on Earth. Says he nearly conked out from exhaustion. I can believe it.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Elixir »

Squire Grooktook wrote:Not quite the same, but: I live in San Diego, right next to Comic Con which is IIRC a much, much bigger event which sees fans and creators flying over from across the world to attend. I'm literally a 30-45 minute drive away, and it's still a nightmare getting in. Getting tickets is a nightmare. Finding parking is a nightmare. Sitting in traffic for 3 hours is a nightmare. Waiting in lines for hours is a nightmare. Walking around for three to five hours straight amidst claustrophobia inducing crowds is a nightmare.

I still made a point to attend every year since nearly...2009 or so I believe. However I've stopped over the past few years because I take summer classes now and cannot spare the time.

A friend of mine was also visiting Japan and attended this Comitek, and even though he was already scheduled to be in the area, it was apparently Hell on Earth. Says he nearly conked out from exhaustion. I can believe it.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowi ... 08090b5514

SDCC: "topping 130,000 in recent years."
NYCC: 167,000 people for the four day event.
SLCCC: says it drew 127,000 (a new record) to its 2015 show.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily- ... ys/.110518

C91: 550,000 total over 3 days, 210,000 on day 3 (12/31)
C84: 590,000 total over 3 days
C87: 560,000 total over 3 days
C89: 200,000 attendees day 3 alone
C90: 210,000 attendees day 3 alone

I think people underestimate Comiket, it's probably the largest self-published works event in the world and there's plenty of people travelling there specifically for the event.

Also, doujin and indie are different. They're self-publishing for a reason. If you want to sell for a profit you'd better find a different genre. Some people just want to get their game out there, anyone wanting to sell their doujin games after the event can consign with Toranoana or Melonbooks and sell it that way.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Sumez »

Squire Grooktook wrote:I'm literally a 30-45 minute drive away
[...]
Finding parking is a nightmare.
Is public transport simply not a thing in major US cities?!
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

Sumez wrote:
Squire Grooktook wrote:I'm literally a 30-45 minute drive away
[...]
Finding parking is a nightmare.
Is public transport simply not a thing in major US cities?!
Well, the first ever American high-speed bullet train project keeps getting delayed (with the basic concept of having a bullet train travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two to three hours tops once finished). There had been talks/discussions about it over the last twenty/thirty years but absolutely nothing got done (there was an environmental study done but that took many years to get completed -- I think it was a 12 year huge undertaking just to pull that off alone with the general public footing the bill, of course). Having rode on the Japanese bullet train myself back in 2000, it truly is an amazing experience not to be missed (and I can see the need for separate high-speed train tracks for it to work flawlessly as it should). If the high-speed train project had been started back in 1995 or thereabouts, it would've been finished and on a cheaper construction budget indeed (and not the billions of dollars needed to get it finally completed nowadays). It sucks big time when it comes to America's 1st bullet train project these days -- so be it.

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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by Sumez »

I wasn't thinking long distance transit, but that's still interesting tidbits of information I guess.
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by soprano1 »

Sumez wrote:
Squire Grooktook wrote:I'm literally a 30-45 minute drive away
[...]
Finding parking is a nightmare.
Is public transport simply not a thing in major US cities?!
Public transport is for dirty commies and yurop socialists!!!! :wink:
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Re: Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

Post by zakk »

In the US '30-45 minutes away' from a city is pretty much long distance transit. Although there's a huge variance in what that really means; it could be 10 miles with terrible traffic or it could be 45 minutes of highway speed freeway (which means it could be nearly 50 miles away).

There's probably a few metro areas where the commuter rails reach out that far, but those are often useless if you're trying to attend events where you expect to be in the city late.

There are very few places in the US you can take a train between cities, or from a far suburb to a city. Basically the Northeast Corridor (Washington DC to Boston) and maybe one or two other places.

While there is a country-wide rail provider, it's rarely efficient to use. DC to NYC is 3 hours (which is reasonable and better than driving/flying), DC to Boston is 8 hours, DC to Chicago is around 17, and if you're crazy, DC to Los Angeles is probably around 80-90 hours.

Sumez wrote:I wasn't thinking long distance transit, but that's still interesting tidbits of information I guess.
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